New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation is developing a new framework to help municipalities keep drinking water clean.
Streams, reservoirs and other bodies that provide drinking water to local communities can often be contaminated before a municipal treatment plant makes the water safe for consumption. Think runoff from agriculture or salt on the road that seeps into the groundwater.
But since 2021, the DEC and other state agencies have been working with local municipalities across the state to develop best practices for how to limit that contamination. The DEC’s Drinking Water Source Protection Program Framework 2025 is now available for public comment – the final step before the framework becomes an established program.
While the 104 participating municipalities have been leading their local conversations around the development of these strategies, DEC, the State Department of Health, the Department of State, and the State Department of Agriculture and Markets have provided support. The aim is to assist communities with building and implementing a protection program for their water, including privately operated community public water systems. The Framework builds on the pre-existing Source Water Assessment Program or SWAP, which promotes plans that are locally developed, implemented and maintained.
The program is designed to support all public water supplies, especially those that have limited staff capacity.
Ryan Bell is the program manager for the DOH. Bell says the idea is to protect water before it gets to a treatment plant to reduce the risk of contamination.
“The quality and safety of our drinking water is impacted by how we use the land surrounding the source potential sources of contamination can come from both point and non-point sources,” Bell said. “So, some examples, as you can see, include solid waste management facilities, agriculture runoff from roadways and salt application, as well as residential sources, which may include failing septic systems or lawn and guarding chemicals miss.”
Bell says municipalities can be proactive by conserving land, develop zoning that includes source water protection, and educate the community.
Since the program’s launch, officials say it has been successful and reaches more than 2.5 million consumers statewide.
Once finalized, current source water conditions will be evaluated based on data and mapping. Once that’s completed, actionable steps will be shared with municipalities.
A new library of funding sources is one of several additions to the program, according to Kristen Martinez, an environmental program specialist with the DEC’s division of water.
“It is a library of over 100 federal, state and local funding sources that anyone can filter down using criteria, for example, applicant type, project type, to then narrow down funding sources for their specific project.”
Municipalities will be offered free technical assistance through the development process and the start of implementation, a flexible schedule, inventory of potential contaminants surrounding the source, and guidance on funding sources.
The public comment period runs through June 25.
